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Shoppers Waiting For Shoe Release Riot, Break Into Mall

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TAYLOR (WWJ) – Hundreds of shoppers who lined up before dawn to buy one of the season’s most wanted new shoes became unruly and began forcing their way inside Taylor’s Southland Mall on Friday.

A crowd of about 100 people planning to put a pair of limited edition Nike basketball shoes under a gift tree, or on their own feet, forced open a pair of doors almost three hours before the 8 a.m. opening and stormed inside. Another 200 people were gathered outside.

Southland Security called for Taylor police, who then summoned assistance from Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, Southgate and Brownstown Township to restore order. Once inside, police say there was some minor interior damage to decorations and benches that were toppled over during the scuffle.

A 21-year-old Detroit man was arrested for inciting a riot. Nobody was hurt.

This isn’t the first time that Nike has done a special limited release of a popular style of sneakers. But at the Finish Line store at Southland Mall, manager Deron Mason told WWJ’s Pat Sweeting he had hundreds of customers rushing in to buy the store’s 40 pairs of Nike Air Jordan Retro XI — which cost upwards of $180.

“That shoe, you know what, it was popular then back when Jordan dropped it in ’95. It was a shoe that was popular then after he came back from retirement and it came back out five years later and it sold out again. So, it’s been 10 years since it dropped and everybody wants that shoe like it’s a culture that everybody has got to have it,” said Mason.

The shoe sold out within 20 minutes at the store and Mason said he was offered everything from several hundred dollars to the title of someone’s car just to reserve a pair for them.